Rare Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse Guide: When And How To Best View It Plus Where To Watch Online Via Live Stream [Video]
Rare full moon will lit up the sky on Oct. 8, 2014. The day will also witness second and the final lunar eclipse and blood moon of the year 2014. Here is when and where to best view the spectacular astronomical event that will be visible in the most parts of the world. Also, find out where to watch the full lunar eclipse online via live stream.
This celestial event also happens to be the second of the 2014-2015 lunar tetrad. The first of the four eclipses occurred on April 14-15 2014. Earthsky describes lunar tetrad as an astronomical event that features "four successive total lunar eclipses, with no partial lunar eclipses in between, each of which is separated from the other by six lunar months."
Total lunar eclipse are usually called "blood moon" because of the reddish shade that falls on the moon during Earth's sunrise and sunset at "mid-eclipse."
Timeanddate.com states that the Oct. 8 rare blood moon total lunar eclipse will be visible in the parts of Asia, North and South America. East in Europe and Australia will also be able to witness the event when moon turns from bright to dull red and back again.
The event will last for approximately 61 minutes. According to Universe Today, most parts of North America, the western U.S. and Canada will witness the event in the morning. People from Australia and New Zealand will be able to observe the moon's transformation in the evening.
The abovementioned science publication has provided timings of the different stages of total lunar eclipse. According to the website the first phase called prenumbral phase will occur at 8:14 UT (4:14 a.m. EDT, 1:14 a.m. PDT). The second phase known as Umbral begins at 9:15 a.m. UT (5:14 a.m. EDT, 2:14 a.m. PDT). The full lunar eclipse begins at 10:24 UT (6:24 a.m. EDT, 3:24 a.m. PDT) and it lasts until 11:25 UT (7:25 a.m. EDT, 4:25 a.m. PDT). The fourth phase ends at 12:35 UT (5:35 a.m. PDT).
Meanwhile, it is said the October's blood moon is going to be larger than the previous one. Fox 43 states that this is because the astronomical event takes place "right after the perigee." It is the point where moon is closest to Earth in its orbit. This full moon will reportedly be 5.3 percent larger than the April 15 blood moon.
Furthermore, Space.com suggests the observers to observe the full eclipse of the moon and the sunrise simultaneously in an attempt to witness rare effect called "selenelion." This process is impossible to occur, however, due Earth's atmosphere and atmospheric refraction it appears to be happening.
Those who want to watch the rare and the final 2014 total lunar eclipse via live stream, they can tune into Virtual Telescope's online observing session beginning at 10:00 a.m. UT on Oct. 8, 2014. Slooh.com and Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Science Centre will also host live webcast of the astronomical event beginning.
Don't forget to catch the action, as the next total lunar eclipse will occur on April 4, 2015 followed by the one on Sept. 28. And the next tetrad begins 17 years after in 2032.
Video: Lunar Eclipse April 15, 2014 - Blood Moon Time-Lapse
Credit: YouTube.com/ Kenneth Brandon-Dark Sky Chaser
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